Gender delay in emergency medical services: does it really exist?

Patients who have symptoms suspicious for an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) should be evaluated as soon as possible after symptom onset if for no other reason than to identify those with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who can benefit from timely reperfusion therapy. In our society, we expect that all patients, regardless of individual characteristics (eg, age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, and neighborhood location), should be treated equally. Therefore, when an analysis of emergency medical services (EMS) run sheets in a large urban settings, such as Dallas County, Tex, leads to the conclusion that women have 50% greater odds of being delayed in the EMS setting compared with men, significant attention should focus on the validity of the results and their public health/societal implications.